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IT consultant seeks bail over upskirting, stalking charges

Mark Russell

An IT consultant was involved in upskirting more than 200 unsuspecting women, a court has heard.

Malaysian citizen and IT consultant Royce Tan, 27, of Surrey Hills, allegedly used his mobile phone camera to take photographs up women's skirts at his church, office and even at his solicitor's office.

Mr Tan, who is in Australia on a skilled regional sponsored visa, appeared for a bail application in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon charged with 22 counts of stalking and 75 counts of upskirting between December 2012 and January this year.

Box Hill Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team's Detective Sergeant Sandy James told the court Mr Tan was first arrested after an alleged stalking incident at Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, on January 18.

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Sergeant James said Mr Tan's alleged victim confronted him and obtained his personal details before alerting police.

He said they went to Mr Tan's home on January 24 and seized his computer and mobile phone, where they found a large number of video clips and images from footage taken up young women's skirts.

Sergeant James said police analysed the images and identified 17 of the female victims from 422 files.

The women came from Mr Tan's workplace, his Planetshakers church and his previous solicitor's office. Another 192 women allegedly upskirted by Mr Tan have yet to be identified.

Asked why he had upskirted so many women, Mr Tan said "lust and oppportunity", Sergeant James told the court.

Mr Tan would allegedly hold his mobile phone camera in one hand and come up with a reason to crouch down on the ground before taking video footage and photographs up his unsuspecting victims' skirts.

Sergeant James said Mr Tan would place himself in a number of the images before replaying them at home and masturbating.

Mr Tan's alleged victims had been upset and shocked to find out what had happened and feared it would happen again if he was released.

Questioned by Mr Tan's defence lawyer, Sergeant James said there was no evidence to indicate Mr Tan had shared the images or uploaded them on to the internet.

Sergeant James said Mr Tan had made full admissions and was co-operating with police. Police opposed Mr Tan being granted bail because he could re-offend and was a flight risk.